Once upon a time, or during the Cold War, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) built a man-made mountain of rubble over the top of an underground Nazi technical college in Berlin. This massive hill was called Devil’s Mountain, or Teufelsberg in German. It was on Devil’s Mountain where the NSA built one of the largest and highly classified Listening Stations in the world to eavesdrop and spy, intercepting Soviet, East German and other countries’ communications. This NSA Listening Station of Radar Domes on “The Hill,” was rumored to be a part of the global ECHELON intelligence gathering network. Other rumors include tunnels beneath the spy complex and yet others suggesting that by 1954, 1,200 calls could be recorded simultaneously, filling up more than 50,000 reel tapes, so that hundreds of tape recorders were installed, the better to hear and record you with my dears. The station continued to operate until the fall of East Germany and the Berlin Wall. Yet after the station was closed, abandoned, and the equipment removed, the derelict buildings and radar domes still remained. This was too much temptation to urban explorers, especially since the elevation of Teufelsberg is 377 feet, and the former NSA Listening Station is over 262 feet high, offering the best views overlooking Berlin. Here’s a urban exploration look at Devil’s Mountain; the once highly classified, now highly vandalized NSA radar domes at Teufelsberg. On this trail of spies during this armchair tour of abandoned NSA listening station in Berlin, remember a little intelligence motto: In God we trust; all others we monitor. [44 photos]

Share this:

Abandoned NSA spy station: The elevation of Teufelsberg is 377 feet (115 m) but the hill north of Berlin, Germany’s, Grunewald forest was artificially created by the Allies after WWII. The Allies built Devil’s Mountain from about 400,000 buildings that were reduced to rubble during the 20 years after Berlin was rebuilt. The Teufelsberg Towers stand over 262 feet (80 meters) tall. The former U.S. listening station which sits atop Devil’s Mountain was referred to as “The Hill” by American soldiers, spooks and their Allies. Photo #1 by Matt Biddulph

Sentry box at abandoned NSA Teufelsberg Listening Station in Berlin. When the NSA built one of the largest listening stations in the world on top of “The Hill,” it was rumored to be a part of the global ECHELON intelligence gathering network. The mystery of Devil’s Mountain began with what was buried beneath the hill. It was a Nazi military-technical college that the Allies could not demolish with explosives. It turned out easier to cover it with debris and build a man-made rubble mound. There are rumors that Americans had excavated a shaft down through the ruins beneath The Hill, but it was never proven. In fact, many rumors circulated about the highly classified NSA Listening Station including one about “the tunnel” beneath being an underground escape route for people working at Devil’s Mountain, or that the tunnels were being used to further intercept communications and spy on the world. Photo #2 by Matt Biddulph

Small ‘Jambalaya’ tower at Devil’s Mountain in Berlin. The Jambalaya tower is regarded as one of the most mysterious installations at Teufelsberg. On the “legal” tour, this Jambayala smallest Tower is off limits, as are other buildings due to “asbestos installed” there. Photo #4 by Matt Biddulph

Rusty and crusty steel bones, the only remnants of an old warehouse at abandoned U.S. spy complex. This Teufelsberg photo was taken in May 2011. Photo #5 by Parkinpants

The spy station on Devil’s Mountain continued to operate until the fall of East Germany and the Berlin Wall. Then the station was closed and the equipment was removed. The buildings and radar domes still remain in place. This is the current condition of abandoned Teufelsberg. Photo #6 by Victor Bergmann

A German newspaper talked of illegally entering the site before a young entrepreneur set up ‘legal tours’ to the decayed trail of spies. All the locks are broken and the 48-acre site suffered seven years of decay when the area was not protected by security guards. All valuables have been stolen by copper and metal cable thieves. “The five white balls, the symbol of the devil, are all cut.” Photo #7 by Victor Bergmann

Curiously, the terms “Alien” and “Aliens” are referred to multiple times in English graffiti at the previous NSA ears station. Photo #9 by Victor Bergmann

The photographer wrote, “This impressive elevation (called the Devil’s Hill) is nothing but a mound of 12 million cubic meters of WW2 rubble piled on the carcass of an abandoned Nazi military college, overgrown with forest, and the cherry on the top is the spy station which the Americans used to eavesdrop on the Russians East of the Wall. It has been abandoned since the end of the Cold War and has suffered much decay. You’re not supposed to go there, but the three fence perimeter can’t really stop the curious, and the payback in adrenaline is immense. You just need to be very careful not to injure yourself on any of the damaged construction, slide off a ladder, get lost in the creepy basement or fall into the open elevator shaft at the top of the main radome tower. Keeping all that in mind, it is well worth the climb as the echo in the main dome is so strong, even your own breath is reiterated.” Photo #10 by Magic Madzik

In the 1990s there was talk of preserving the former NSA Listening Station as a sort of spy museum. That plan fell through. There were estimates of almost $50 million to mortage the place, so after it was heavily vandalized, the project was forgotten. In 2011, an enterprising student began offering guided tours in German and in English also to the former NSA field station. This offered the first real opportunity for Berlin residents and visitors to legally visit Teufelsberg spy station. Photo #17 by David Rush

Shot of the interior offices. At its prime, NSA people would “chemically” break down all the papers that were no longer needed and then use them to generate heat for the building in large boilers. The student who wanted to make tours legal to Devil’s Mountain had to start by first registering all 800 people who used to work at the spy station. Photo #20 by David Rush

Mr. Schoen, one of my favorite people from the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), took this shot. He wrote, “Former NSA American military radio installation at Teufelsberg.” Photo #22 by Seth Schoen

2010 Teufelsberg Graffiti – People of Berlin Underground Association and have researched under Devil’s Mountain and the former NSA facility. Despite many people assuming the underground tunnels exist, they reportedly found no secret bunker rooms and called all the hype “mere speculation.” However, it is “curious that at a place on the coordinates of all the missiles of the Soviet Union were addressed, there is no bunker.” Photo #23 by Steve.Jackson

The Devil Mountain is still good for generating myths and graffiti tagging. Other urban explorers are said to bring wine and blankets to enjoy the view and such. Photo #24 by Victor Bergmann

Collapsed lift shaft at Devil’s Mountain. A German newspaper described previous illegal visits to the the derelict NSA listening station. The lift elevator is broken, so visiting the spy station takes “228 steps through a dark staircase” before the “domed top is reached.” The outer skin of the domes was reportedly first cut open by people probably just wanting to enjoy the view. Now most of the foil-lined skins have been shredded. Photo #25 by Matt Biddulph

At Teufelsberg in Berlin. The photographer described it as, “A former American monitoring station for eastern radio communication.” Photo #26 by Till Krech

Untold thousands of people have supposedly enjoyed this view of Teufelsberg roof “illegally” in the years since the Cold War and the NSA listening station was abandoned. This shot was captured in the spring of 2011. Photo #27 by Victor Bergmann

American Allies, namely the Brits were also supposedly busy spying from this location. Now there is only decay, graffiti tags, and curiousity by urban explorers at the former military and government intelligence complex. Photo #28 by Steve.Jackson

Main Teufelsberg tower. The view from the top is supposed to be phenomenal, overlooking the entire area. Some visitors to the former NSA Listening Station use the domes for acoustics and jam. Even when it was illegal, and people had to slip in through cut barbed wire, there were reportedly at least 100 people on the site every summer weekend. Photo #29 by Matt Biddulph

One site alleges that American CIA and British Secret Intelligence Service ran a joint operation called Operation Gold in the 1950s from underneath the NSA spy station and tapped into landline communications of the Soviet Army headquarters in Berlin. It further suggests sources say the operation tunneled under the NSA spy station, into and under the Grunewald Forest, into the Soviet-occupied zone. If all of that were to be true, remember no tunnels were found, then this place was overrun by spooks. Photo #30 by Victor Bergmann

The photographer wrote, “This is the interior of one of the domes at the Teufelsberg listening post in Berlin If you look carefully you’ll see that no repeating pattern exists. My friends and I were unsure why this should be but reckon its something to do with minimizing constructive interference. The Other main dome was a very regular shape so maybe they have opposite functions….any ideas?” Photo #32 by Neil H

This shot was taken in 2010. Another nugget of supposed wisdom of the former NSA radar dome listening station suggested that “although there was at least one severe case of secret betrayal,” U.S. units stationed at Devil’s Mountain won the ‘Travis Trophy’ twice. “This prize is awarded annually by the NSA in the military or civilian communications intelligence unit, which has provided over the years the best and most valuable services for the U.S.” Photo #34 by Neil H

Allegedly this place was used to listen to and to disrupt radio transmissions and similar tasks. It is believed that about 230 people worked here per shift. “Guests” who sometimes used the NSA spy complex system might have included “a detachment of the British 13th signal regiment, the CIA, the NSA and French units.” Photo #35 by Mike Brand

At one point, around 1992, this Cold War relic was considered as the future location of a “Devil’s Mountain Resort.” This shot of the abandoned U.S. Listening Station tower in Teufelsberg, Berlin, was taken in 2011. Photo #36 by Parkinpants

Some sources suggest that by 1954, 1,200 calls could be recorded simultaneously. There is really no way to know if such reports are true, if they are far below what was technically feasible in 1954, or if they are only feeding conspiracy theories about the super secret NSA and its former spy complex in Berlin. Photo #37 by David Rush

Poking around online to do research for this post, we ran across a site allegedly for former spies from NSA Teufelsberg and other intelligence units. In 1999, the site posted, “Paranoid about your privacy? Feel like you’re being watched? Guess what: you’re right. “THEY” are poking through your files, reading your email, plucking your instant messages out of thin air, and monitoring your surfing habits.” Feel better? How about this from the same site, a quoted motto: “In God we trust; all others we monitor.” Photo #38 by Victor Bergmann

Part of the building complex on Devil’s Mountain Teufelsberg, including the five abandoned NSA Listening Station “devil domes.” Photo #41 by Axel Mauruszat

“American legacy in 2006.” The photographer noted, “Teufelsberg in Berlin, Germany. At times where Berlin was something like an island in the eastern block, the American army used this phallic thing as a listening post for all sort of radio communications.” Photo #42 by Till Krech

The aerial image was described as it “depicts approximately the maximum installation on the Teufelsberg as it once was. Clearly visible is the big antenna tower that was used by the British GCHQ. Also visible are the small radomes on top of the big tower and the Arctic tower main radomes. Their usage is unclear and they have been removed when the NSA left. Also visible are some smaller antenna towers with antennas that can be guessed to be part of a shortwave directional setup.” Photo #43 by dasalte.ccc.de

Teufelsberg dome as it is now at twilight. We hope you enjoyed the virtual urban exploration of this Cold War relic. Please be so kind as to keep your comments decent, friendly, and unclassified because Big Brother really is listening . . . just not from the abandoned NSA Listening Station on Devil’s Mountain. ;-P Photo #44 by Matt Biddulph

There were a pair of shredders (twins) you might say. They were used every weekday so usage was alternated to avoid wearing one out too quickly. Paper was shredded so finely it came out as almost a powdery susbstance packed in huge blocks and recycled as insulation, packing material, etc.

Yeah!!! I spent many hours feeding burn bags full of paper into Jaws while I was stationed there from 78 to 80. I always volunteered for this for some crazy reason. I guess I just liked the reprieve from my regular job at SS Papa

It was dull except when it was not and obviously I can’t say much more…

SS Papa was not in the main building but was closer to the Brits. It was compartmentalized and not many people came by. To get there you took the first right, shortly after the guard shack, and just before the secure door entering the Brit portion, turn left, go down the stairs, and into the big vault door. It was very dark and dingy getting there and not much better once you got inside although it was VERY bright.

Spent many hours here working to ensure America’s freedom. The traitors who released all of that classified information are sure getting an easy time. In order to clear all paper from the giant shredders upon completion of a task, we threw sections of 2X4s into it. Gives you an idea of its power. Part of the reason that our site was called Devil Mountain was because it was built from all of the rubble cleaned up around Berlin after the War. It seemed to be a fine place and appropriate name, since it was (used to be) isolated in a forest. (Gruenewald does not mean wild boar. It means Green Forest.)

Unbelievable pics. When I first saw this place years ago I immediately thought this needs to rebuild and became a museum, concert hall, techno club 😉 or something like a permanent sound installation should installed there. Of course the story behind that buildings is ugly but from an architectural viewpoint they are outstanding. It could be a really beautiful place.

i worked at teufelsberg 1969-72. The buidings you see replaced smaller huts during this period.there was only one Us dome originally. All brit work was against army and air force radio and radar. No tunnels below it, thats a load of crap.

Worked there in Sept-Oct 1963, when the site consisted of several dozen semi-truck trailers circled like a wagon train. The first permanent 2-3 story dome building had just been topped out. The Germans stuck a festive fir tree atop, then the laborers all got drunk. Uncle Sugar planted a dome atop the building and the rest is history. As heavy as is the current tagging, the most telling inscription to be found on T-Berg in 1963 consisted of but three simple letters: F – T – A

â€œcurious that at a place on the coordinates of all the missiles of the Soviet Union were addressed, there is no bunker.â€
Not really, no bunker then or now would withstand that type of targeted nuclear attack, it would have been a waste of time and money to build one. The Soviet Tanks would have overrun the area within hours of a conventional attack anyway, there was no need to nuke it.

I was there as US Army ASA in 1971. I worked in maintenance in the smaller tower to the right of the main complex in pic #43. This was Red Section (Research and Development) at the time. Red was very restricted. Pic #43 shows a more developed site than 1971 I think. Many memories but so long ago. The smaller radome on top of the large one on this tower was a special project by NSA if my memory serves me right. NSA people were heavily involved in the R&D operations of this smaller tower. Interesting times. Never heard of any tunnels or anything else of the kind. Thats probably total BS. If the Soviets wanted to take us out it would have been very easy!

Russell think I remember you I worked up stairs in R&D was an 05K2R. Maintenance LOL you guys were Electronic experts. Heck I had a double E and you guys put me to shame. Was a lot of fun remember the speak easy and franks pig pen???

I was there when it closed. Best year of my army career. Berlin was so much fun. Would love to revisit. I dont see why the German Gov’t doesnt do some thing with this place. Clearly it would make tons of money in tourism.

Pic 18 looks like JAWS, an awesome shredder. It ate a 2×4 with no trouble. The room would fill with paper fibers and dust when it was running and it would pile up in your hair and on your shoulders. I worked at Andrews Barracks, but had JAWS duty when we were closing down in 1992.

I was there when they installed the thing. Sure beat the heck out of the old one we had to use. Had to stop every few minutes and go outside to clean out the chute that went into a dumpster. “Jaws” was a major improvement.

The sheer possibilties of such a sight, are the remnents of the world being spied upon. With the distruction of the espionage, things like this station are becoming clearer as actual fact. To think that this was used by the great forces of the world, to spy on everyone, is truly a mistery of trechery and espionage. Today it is probably nothing more than an old remnent of war. Life that once was, is almost as mysterious as possibly could be. Being a man who has no doubt believing that I might have been a person of intrest was once an article of great world inteligence and treachery.

worked there from 65 to 69 and we had free time to look around the place and only one place was off limits. No tunnels to best of myknowledge, as I was a duty officer who took attendance at site, was also German linguist listening to East German military. Funny thing thjo was the Russian linguists always got a merry xmas from Russian military by names. Who was spying on who?

@Travis- maybe at some point there was a legal tour, but I just visited and there is no way that is around any longer. There is a triple fence around it with barbed wire. As of June ’12, they had just reinforced the fencing again, but someone always cuts a hole in it where you can shimmy through. not legal- If you go, go with people who are comfortable with the area and the people. Feels sketchy- but so worth it.

I was there with Headquarters Company ASA Field Station Berlin,from 69-72. It was a hub for intelligence gathered for all of Europe. The daily summary came through every morning and was gathered and re-transmitted to Arlington Hall Va. to NSA HQ. All of the communications network was underground….there were no tunnels nor any bunkers. Our section was told that if there was a war we were all expendable. When I left there in 1972 an MP came up and hugged me bye and gave me a red rose. It was a tradition back then. I was on his list for elimination. We only had destruction equipment and small arms. We would destroy everything with a high rating and then wait. We practiced this often, at least monthly, and we were all aware of the consequences of our jobs in time of war. There were no huge banks of recorders recording phone conversations. We only listened for keywords. The rest was gathered by defeating the top secret communications of others. It’s called electronic warfare. The general public should have had no fear of saying the wrong things on a telephone. With all our sources and equipment, we knew who to listen to. As of 1970 we could tell where every weapon the Warsaw Pact nations had above 20mm and where any size group above platoon strength was at any given time. We didn’t waste a lot of time listening to telephones. We listened to radio and microwave and lazer and other types of communications. We gathered all the other communications from field operatives and other listening stations in Europe there also. Berlin was a very important hub of intelligence gathering, that is why it was on the “knockout list”. I loved Berlin and it’s people. Even though we were outlanders we still believed that we were doing good there and protecting the rights of all free peoples. The rest was all just operational, what was best for the US interests and our allis in Europe.

I was there in the 70’s. Got there as a Russian linguist (I loved Monterey). Was pulled out to take photos and do slide shows for the big brass to show dignateries. It sure was better than the split shifts they made the linguists do.

I got to go on helicopter rides around West Berlin to take photos of Teufelsberg and other facilities that the NSA had there. I’m not sure if I took the one aerial that is in this presentation or not but I took many.

One thing I thought was interesting. They didn’t have Power Point or anything like that. There was an artist assigned there too. The brass would tell us what they wanted. The artist would draw several “slides”. I would take them up on the roof and take photos of the art work and put it all together for the presentation. Much more crude than what is available now. I even had to develop the photos that we used.

[…] Busy-body America once attempted to eavesdrop on Chatty Cathy Uli East Germany and the former Soviet Union. Rumoured to have the capability of recording 1,200 calls simultaneous, the 262-foot-high listening station was built in the 1950s by the US National Security Agency and located on an artificial hill. The 48-acre site was abandoned following German reunification. Additional images can be seen here. […]

I was stationed there 1979-81 and met my future wife there. Really enjoy working the CCCP (some will know what that means). We went back to Berlin in Oct 13 to visit and was sorry to see the place in such disrepair. Fond memory’s will never fade.

I was stationed there in 1971 and worked in the Pit, as it was affectionately known. Since I was USAF, and the Ops was Army, we were tenants and worked their 6-2-6-2 schedule. Finally, someone thought that the USAF should work the same 4-1-4-1 schedule as Marienfelde for obvious reasons. lMy tour was cut short so that I could go to Sinop, Turkey (another Army post), then I came back to Berlin in ’76. By then, the dome was built. Love the way it looked like a dildo from a distance. My office (pic #19) was between 2 sub-systems – D and B, I think. It was the raised area on the floor and I shared it with some ASA types. Underground escape tunnel? I think not. And Grunewald translates to “Green Forrest” NOT “wild boar”. Whoever wrote the article has never been to Germany. Oh, and “Gurnie pigs”?? Not. What? No mention of the nude beach at the foot of the hill? I was a Russkij linguist and loved the job. Every year, the 6912th would picnic with our Brit counterparts from T/Berg. Those dudes could par-tay! Berlin was the best assignment that I ever had, beating Bremerhaven and Darmstdt by a mile and a half………der Slatz

I was there just before it closed down in early 1990 installing some super-fast switching equipment for the monitored communications as a defense contractor. We, me mostly, managed to get the job done in record time only to find out that when the acceptance paperwork was being signed off on that the site was being decommissioned.

I wonder if the nude beach is still there at the bottom of the hill.

I would love to go back again and take a tour of that place. I would also like to go to Potsdam and see if any of the Wall is still there. I brought back over 40 lbs. of that wall – the East Wall – and nobody understands anything about it when I tell them the story. Those people were some cruel people for sure. Poisoned inner area between the walls, asbestos in the steel reinforced concrete built by slave labor, pill boxes with machine guns, elevated guard towers with armed guards, barbed wire on top of both walls, buried bed-of-nails pits line with brick to make escape impossible if you should be unfortunate to fall into one after getting over both walls to freedom, OMG! East Germany was a concentration camp at best.

[…] which is a fantastic site if you’re not familiar with it. Some of my favorites there are an old NSA listening post in Berlin, Bodie Historic State Park and Chernobyl (a subject that I’ve studied extensively – […]

I have been checking, but I don’t see anyone in here yet with whom I worked. Would be nice to run into some of my old friends. Has anyone heard of, or remember the “Golden Ear Award”? I got it once when I was new there. I misheard what was being said in a transcription and one of the NSA civilians presented the award to me. That shamed me into doing a better job. Never did get it again.

Ah, yes, The “Golden Ear Award”. I had heard about it, but never seen it. If ever you get a chance, check Amazon.com and get the book “These Guys” Cold War Stories Told by Cold War Warriors. USAFSS Intelligence and Communications, by Trish Schiesser. It’s a large book with stories told by Army, USAF and Navy personnel about their clandestine experiences. We email each other daily. She would love to hear stories from anyone interested in relaying them to her. Right now, she’s put off writing because of eye surgery, but will be back too it soon enough. I’ve seen pics of where the old 6913th RSM was in Bremerhaven, and it, like TBerg, is just a memory now. A lot has changed since 1961. Soon, the WWII warriors will all be gone, and we “Silent Warriors” will be next. Another reason I’m glad to share stories with Trish. What we did was history. It should be documented.